In 2009, the United Church of Canada passed a resolution urging churches to celebrate Creation Time during five Sundays in the Pentecost season. The Sundays are organized around the theme: “What is Creation Saying to us?” This fall that season runs from September 13th to October 11th.
Reflecting on Creation
Although we will not be focusing on this during our Sunday morning worship I will take the time to reflect on this in Wednesday wonderings over that time period. Our relationship to the earth and our connectedness with creation has captured the minds and hearts of many in recent years. For some, this is a new concept, but in fact it is as ancient as time itself. Our First Nations brothers and sisters know this well and remind us that everything in creation is connected. As human beings we must treat each other and all things with respect and dignity.
In his book “Darwin, Divinity and the Dance of the Cosmos” Bruce Sanguin writes these words
“In the last 300 years, during the age of scientific rationalism, human beings have stepped out of the flow of creation. We have extricated ourselves from the story of the life of the planet, and have assumed the position of outside observers, of beings who live on the earth, but who are not of it. We imagine ourselves to be “in here” looking out at the world “out there”. This dualism has enabled us to imagine that the earth belongs to us, when the bio-spiritual truth is that in every conceivable way, we belong to the earth.”
The Disconnect
It is because of this disconnect with creation that we find ourselves in the place where we have destroyed entire species, killed off plant life, eroded the ozone layer, polluted the waters and sent toxins into the air. We have seen the earth as something for us to subdue and dominate and in the process we are also killing ourselves. Our Sacred story is filed with images and stories that can serve to reorient us and call us back into right relationship and the wisdom and insight of prophets throughout the ages can guide us on this journey of rediscovery and new life. Over the next few weeks we will explore some of this together.
Today, I would like to share the words of the psalmist who writes in psalm 19
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the vault of the sky reveals God’s handiwork. One day speaks to another, and night shares its knowledge with night, and this without speech or language; their voices are not heard. But their sound goes out to all the lands , their words to the ends of the earth.”
The psalmist invites us in these words to pay attention to creation. It will speak to us the words of truth and provide direction for our lives. We must be connected and in tune with the rhythm of all life so that we might have life.
Move ahead several millennia to 2005 and a book written by Macrina Wiederkehr and Joyce Rupp. In their book “The heart’s journey through the seasons : The Circle of Life” they write
“It was in the heart of nature that this book was birthed. As we entered into spring, summer, autumn and winter, we tasted each season’s flavour, rested in the season’s lingering moods, touched with reverence their strengths and blessings, willingly faced their shadows, and humbly accepted their challenges. We have discovered each season to be a stepping stone in a great circle of life. Round and round they go, no season ever exactly the same as the year before, each one teaching us something more about who we are and about how life is meant to be lived.”
The Earth Does NOT Belong … to us
So, as I see it, the first step that we must take is look at creation, really look at it. Then we must enter into its mystery and glean the wisdom that waits for us in its unfolding. We must embrace the reality that the earth does not belong to us but that we belong to it and in that belonging we will know new life.
Blessings
Valerie
© 2015 Rev. Valerie Peyton Kingsbury. All Right Reserved
Arrangement and Graphics by: BBouzane, bci-esolutions.com
thank you for your thoughtful reflections. Looking forward to Bruce coming to ASTE next year. We are celebrating Creation Time at St Paul’s first time as regular service of the day doing our Blessing of the Animals in “Last Duel” Park this Sunday.
Beautiful !! As I get older and the material stuff fads away, I appropriate the earth around me ,the sunsets, the sounds of birds and running brooks. Maybe when I was younger Life became to busy and I was blinded by work and every day life with stress and family, but now I can see the mistakes, we as a people will ignore the environment for jobs and greed .